October 1998 (148 pages, $3.50): Editor Ro McGonegal’s “On the Cover” description tipped readers to even more of our cover model inside, adding, “Our apologies to high school librarians everywhere.” Sure enough, spread throughout the cover story, we counted—strictly for research purposes, understand—another dozen photos. Ten include a theme-appropriate, checkerboard bikini, barely. A nice set of correspondence in “Reaction Time” is subtitled “Letters on Letters About Cleavage” and led with a rerun of the bosomy April 1998 cover shot that inspired reader response (“Beckie Mullen could be a Generation X Linda Vaughn,” wrote one).

Your hub for horsepower
Get first access to hit shows like Roadkill and Dirt Every Day

October 1978 (108 pages, $1.25): An editorial package that was conceived at the planning meeting (in which the author participated as feature editor) as an overdue nod to kustoms with a “K” instead delivered only one traditional example amidst a mix of modern show cars and lowriders. One Impala named “Garden of Eden” is laced with leaves looking suspiciously like weed (hey, it was the 1970s!). Even the HOT ROD Heritage series disappoints this month: Though George Barris craved publicity and was just over the hill from our Sunset Strip headquarters, zero quotations suggest that nobody bothered to request a fresh interview. The cover car topped HRM’s Top 10 street machines of the year, ran 11s, and returned 14 mpg cruising. The cover car topped HRM’s Top 10 street machines of the year, ran 11s, and returned 14 mpg cruising, according to builder Bill Porterfield, an Oldsmobile engineer (destined for the Quad-4 Aerotech program that produced A.J. Foyt’s closed-course world record of 257 mph a decade later).

60 Years Ago

October 1958 (100 pages, 35¢): The now-common concept of creating a vehicle specifically to win a particular car show dates at least to 1958 and Richard Peters, whom freelance-contributor George Barris photographed beside the Dodge Red Ram-equipped pickup named America’s Most Beautiful Roadster this year (and again in 1959, becoming the first repeat winner). Barris personally handled paint and metal, merging ’29 A and ’27 T bodies atop a frame fabbed by Fresno pals Peters and Blackie Gejeian, then completely chromed. Inside, the “Ala Kart” was joined by everything on wheels, from cop cars to race cars, plus outboard boats.